As part of the ongoing project to strengthen the legal regime against terrorism in Egypt, the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB) organized a national workshop on strengthening international judicial cooperation against terrorism in Cairo on 23-25 September 2014.
The workshop was attended by 28 national participants and 11 international experts from Algeria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, as well as from INTERPOL and the League of Arab States, bringing the total number of participants to 39. Two national lecturers from Egypt also participated.
During the three-day workshop thorough and in-depth discussions took place with respect to all agenda topics, in particular on the judicial and administrative practices and the approaches that were adopted in national jurisdictions to ensure efficient mutual legal assistance and extradition requests. The role of international organizations, such as United Nations and INTERPOL, was also discussed. Egyptian authorities presented their relevant national legal framework and mechanisms on judicial cooperation against terrorism.
Experts and participants expressed their full appreciation of the activity, in particular the commitment of all participants to the workshop and the quality of discussions between national participants and their international counterparts.
The workshop was part of the current plan of action between the Government of Egypt and UNODC/TPB, the activities under which are generously funded by the Government of Japan. UNODC/TPB plans several additional specialized technical assistance activities for Egypt in the coming months.